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152 articles, 90 artwork images, 11 exhibitions

Belu Simion Fainaru, an Israeli sculptor and installation artist, was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1959 and in 1973 moved to Israel.
During the 80's, his work used motifs taken from Jewish culture, through which he raised questions of identity and historical memory. In his works, Fainaru created concretization of metaphysical concepts such as "light" or "name", into artistic objects that make use of the text.
Detachment, social issues and characters from the margins of Israeli society, are typical in many of Fainaru works. In the exhibit "The homeless" (1999), for example, Fainaru created a temporary living environment for the homeless in the art exhibition space.
Fainaru also works as a curator. In 1993 he was the co-founder of the Pyramid organization in Haifa and in 2010 was one of the initiators and curators of "The Mediterranean Biennale".
Belu Simion Fainaru lives and works in Haifa.

Education

1980-83 Haifa University
1984 University of Chicago, M.A., art
Domus Academy, Milan, Italy
The Royal Academy of the Arts, Brussels

Awards And Prizes

1985 Young Artist Award, Haifa Art Foundation, Haifa
1987 Study scholarship from the Italian Government, Italy
1989 Training Fellowship of the Belgian government, Belgium
1991 Prize for a Young Artist, Ministry of Education
1992 Sculpture Competition, Levi and Fortuna Askenazi Sculpture Garden, Tel Aviv University, First prize
1994 The Nahum Gutman Prize for Painting and Sculpture, The Histadrut Labor Federation
1997 George and Janet Jaffin Prize for Excellence in Plastic Arts, America-Israel Cultural Foundation
2000 Aptowitzer Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement in Contemporary Creative Arts, Haifa Museum of Art